We recently attended the “Vulture Fest” in Makanda, Il and the Planet Greyhound boys (Vladimir and Vitali) took the opportunity to turn it into a meet & greet of sorts.

Cindy & I would not walk but a few steps before people would ask about them or if they could pet them, take a picture with them, etc… and when those people would walk away we would not move but a few steps before it happened again….and we loved every minute of it!  We found a few people who said they were actively interested and took brochures and other information after seeing how well the boys interacted with other dogs, people and especially kids.  The most common comments were, “I never realized greyhounds were so tall”,  “their hair is so soft”, “are they always so laid back and gentle” and a few people asked if they were Salukis, we would tell them, no, Salukis are smaller (average 40 to 60 lbs) with females usually at the lower ranges and Salukis have longer “hanging” ears.  Greyhounds average from approximately 60 to 88 lbs.  Another sighthound that more resembles a greyhound is a whippet, but they are much smaller with a average weight range of approximately 15 to 40 lbs.  At an average height of 28 to 30 inches tall at the shoulders for males, Greyhounds are also taller than many more well known breeds, such as Dobermans, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Labradors…etc.

You would think we would be used to it by now, but the attention they get is remarkable and we use that attention to spread the word about ex racing greyhound adoption.

To all you people who have greyhounds and you NEVER take them anywhere unless there are only other greyhounds around, you are (in my opinion) doing them and greyhound adoption programs a very big disservice as we hear occasionally people say they were somewhere and people that were there with a greyhound acted almost snobbish and would not really let their dogs fully interact with their dogs. These same people would go on to say that they had at times given a thought to bringing a greyhound into their home, but the actions of the aforementioned people led them to believe that greyhounds were difficult and would not be able to co-exist with their current household pets.